Neville's Secret
by venefxcia
Summary: Neville's best friend comes over for dinner during Christmas break. But Neville has a secret.


Okay. So I wrote this about a year ago for a contest on mibba. I got like, second place or something. I personally don't like it all that much, but I'd rather it goes up on here than there. This is where the action is. So. This character. Her name is Elspeth. I made her an eternity ago, and I plan on using her. A lot. Believe me, anything I post under Harry Potter is going to have her and be very NevilleCentric. Because he's my huzbind.

Anyhoo, blah, blah, don't own, Rowling does.

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><p>"Gran? Gran, where's Trevor?" Neville asked from the other room. He hurried around the hallways of his house somewhat frantically, Trevor's cage in his hand, listening out for the low croaks of his pet toad. He quickly ran downstairs.<p>

"Oh, Neville," said his Grandmother from the kitchen. She placed a group of potatoes on the counter and waved her wand, the small spuds floating underneath the sudden flow of the sink faucet and began to peel themselves. "You must get yourself together. Isn't your friend going to be here soon? What was her name...? Ally, Elizabeth...?" He entered the kitchen and sighed.

"Her name is Elspeth, but everyone calls her Ellie," said the 15-year-old tiredly.

"Watch your tone," she said sternly, giving her wand another half-wave and the potatoes now began to mash themselves.

"Sorry, Gran. Yes, she'll be here."

"And how is she getting here?"

Neville paused and shrugged. "I dunno. Probably by Floo Powder. I know that's how she and her family gets to Diagon Alley. She'll probably use _that_ to get here."

Elspeth smoothed down the wrinkles in her blue dress. Part of her felt the dress was a bit too formal, and made her look a bit too much like Alice in Wonderland, minus the blond tresses. But the other part of her loved the ruffled dress, and her tattered trainers added a tomboyish touch to everything.

"Ellie? Are you sure you don't want me to take you there myself?" asked her mother, Ellabecca, who held the small pot of powder. "You've never traveled by Floo Powder on your own."

"Mum, I'll be fine. It's not like I'm trying to go to the Ministry," she replied. Her mother smiled weakly.

"I know, love," she said, "but I'm your mother. I'm supposed to worry." Ellabecca watched her only daughter duck slightly as she walked into the fireplace. "Remember. Be sure to speak _very_ clearly or else you end up wandering around somewhere off."

"I know, mum! I'll be fine!" Elspeth insisted. Her mother closed her eyes tightly as Elspeth took in a handful of Floo Powder. "I love you, mummie."

"I love you too, dear," she replied. Elspeth clearly exclaimed Neville's addresse, suddenly enveloped in a rush of green flames.

_Woosh!_

Neville and his Grandmother turned abruptly at the sound of flames bursting in the old fireplace in the kitchen. Green flames flicked around the small, secluded area, a pair of legs now there. They paused, completely stunned; they heard a small, frightened cry from inside the small smoke tube, and Neville bolted to his feet. "Ellie!"

"Neville? Neville, is that you?" Elspeth blurted frantically.

"Oh, my God! Ellie!"

"Get me out of here!" she cried. She pushed on the walls, desperately trying to wriggle out of the space, but with no luck . She pushed her arm down and tried to reach her wand, which had been inconveniently placed inside one of her striped stockings for "safekeeping" and "easy access". "I can't reach my wand!" Quickly, Neville bolted to Elspeth and leaned into the fireplace; he reached up and grabbed the handle of her wand, his hand touching her leg and making him blush. He held it out to her and she grabbed the tip, but could not get it to her. She was too tightly closed in. Her wand suddenly fell from her small, pale hand; she flailed her hand desperately and Neville grabbed her hand, squeezing it caringly when he heard Elspeth begin to cry.

Immediately, his Grandmother stood up and raised her wand, pointing it to the pipe. "_Engorgio,_" she said calmly. The pipe swelled and expanded to nearly three times it's previous size, and Elspeth stood in shock, then crawled out. Her bright blue dress was now covered in ash, soot, grease, and burnt pieces of food. Without another thought, she threw her arms around Neville's neck, hugging him tightly. She turned to look at his Grandmother, smiling kindly.

"Thank you so much, ma'am," she said, wiping off her dress. Neville's Grandmother waved her wand once more, this time directed at the dirty blue fabric. The smudges and spots began to clear away, and the blue colour began to brighten.

"There, dear, good as new," she replied. "And please, call me Augusta." Elspeth nodded.

"Are you okay, Ellie?" Neville asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, Nev," she smiled. Neville blushed. For the past year, Neville had been weighted with the deep secret. He and Elspeth had been close friends since their first year, and the one thing that he'd been positively sure of over the years is that Elspeth continued to get more and more beautiful every day. Her curly brown hair got longer, her blue eyes got brighter, and she had grown from a young girl to a lovely young witch. By the time that the Yule Ball came around, he'd realized that he loved her. But beyond his feelings for her, the last thing that he wanted to do was to jeopardize their close friendship. He'd always wished that he'd find that she'd feel the same way about him, but the longer he kept his secret from her, the more he began to doubt this.

"Well, I didn't make supper just for us to stand here in silence," Augusta said, breaking the mentioned silence as she gestured to the serving pots. "Let's eat."

So, Elspeth, what kind of subjects have you been exceeding in at school?" Augusta asked.

Elspeth paused, swallowing her spoonful of mashed potatoes. "Oh, Potions and Divination. I've been doing so well in them. I'm now able to read tea leaves without any reference books."

"Lovely! Perhaps you could assist Neville with his Potions studies," Augusta replied with a smile towards her grandson. Neville blushed. "I want to see some good grades on your O.W.L.'s."

"Yes, ma'am," he said sheepishly to his plate.

"I always help him with Potions," Elspeth continued, nudging Neville kindly with her elbow. "Snape is just really hard on him. Besides, he helps me with Herbology. He's absolutely brilliant," she said, flashing him a stunning smile that made him smile as well, turning redder.

"Ah, yes, he mentioned that he was tutoring you," Augusta said. "Neville has told me quite a lot about you. And he was right; you are very pretty." Elspeth blushed now, but Neville blushed even worse. "He's said in his letters that you get prettier all the time." Neville's green eyes widened in shock.

"G-gran…" he whined. Elspeth smiled shyly, twirling her fork in her spaghetti.

"Oh, hush, boy," Augusta said. "He tells me your mother works for the Ministry. For which department?"

"Mum works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department with Arthur Weasley," she replied.

"Muggles… what fascinating people," Augusta said. "Sometimes I wonder how they can manage to get by without magic. Oh, that reminds of before Neville ever received his Hogwarts letter…" Neville buried his face in his arms, grumbling obscenities and expletives that his Grandmother surprisingly didn't hear. "When he was just a boy, he _never_ showed any signs of magic like the average child would. It got really close to the cutoff, and his uncle started trying anything to get him to show magic. We were worried he would end up the Squib of this pureblood family." Neville's face reddened so much more until he looked like a tomato. "But we were finally able to get it out of him."

Elspeth looked over to Neville, who was peering owlishly over his arms. "Neville, I never knew you were almost a Squib…"

He stood up and pushed his chair in, looking somewhat hurt. "Yeah, well… you weren't supposed to…" And with that, he left the room. Elspeth stood to follow him, but stopped, peering over at Augusta, who nodded.

"Yes, dear. Go ahead," she allowed. Elspeth smiled. She walked out of the dining room and saw Neville on the far end of the hall sitting at the top of the stairs, his arms rested on his knees. He mentally acknowledged her presence, maybe his eyes even flickered to meet hers for a moment, but he otherwise stayed stilled. Elspeth treaded up the stairwell and sat next to him, both of them completely silent and avoiding eye contact. She was worried; she didn't understand why Neville was so upset.

"N-neville…?" she said quietly. There was a slight pause, then she opened her mouth to continue speaking, but no words came out. Then, it was almost as if Neville was now speaking for her.

"You're wondering why I left; why I was upset, right?" he asked, still not looking up at her. She nodded. "She's embarrassing me so much… in front of you. I couldn't just sit there looking so pathetic…"

"Nev, you didn't look pathetic," she assured him, but he tossed her a dubious glance.

"Ellie, you know just as well as I do that I've been looking pathetic for just about most of my life," he said with a small smile. She paused, then giggled.

"I guess you're right," she said. "But… but why were you so upset that your Grandmother told me that you were almost a Squib?" Neville looked away again, now feeling a little embarrassed by his actions.

"I dunno… I just thought that… that if you thought that I was so close to being a Squib, you w-wouldn't want to be my friend…" he said quietly. Elspeth just stared at him. "I thought you would think there was something wrong with me… that I was broken or… or not good enough…"

She scooted closer to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Why would you ever think that? You're my best friend. I mean, sure, you tend to mess up, and you're not the _best_ wizard, but that's what I like about you. It's never kept you from trying. And besides, I like to think that you've changed." Neville looked at her, seeming surprised.

"You do?"

"Yeah. I mean, two or three years from now, you never would have done something like joining Dumbledore's Army," she said. "And remember at the last meeting when you successfully summoned the Expelliarmus spell? That was amazing." Neville blushed modestly. "And look! You're so humble!" He laughed lightly as their eyes met. "You never have to worry about me thinking any less of you. Ever."

"Thanks, Ellie," he said with a small smile. There was another brief pause.

"So…" Elspeth began, "…do you really think I'm pretty?" Neville blushed.

"Uh… I-I… well…" he stammered, "o-of course… you _are_ really pretty…"

"And… you really said that I get prettier all the time?" she asked, now blushing too, but Neville still had her beat.

"Yeah…" he said, nodding slightly. "Yeah, you… you do."

There was a long pause. Neville could feel his nerves becoming more and more unsettled, and his nerves came undone from her next question. "You like me, don't you?" she asked. They both knew what this mean. She wasn't asking if they were friends; she knew the answer to that. She wasn't asking if they still had a general relationship. She was hounding for what he really felt. She was asking him if he loved her.

Now he was speechless. He'd always wanted to tell her, but he'd never been able to get the words out. Neville felt paralyzed; nothing was working the way it was supposed to. He forced a quick and somewhat spastic nod that barely even looked like a nod. Elspeth smiled at him, gently squeezing his shoulder. Then, in a swift movement, he leaned over and kissed her small, pale cheek nervously. The pale ivory skin turned a rosy colour that made Neville smile as he watched her touch her other hand to her cheek, right to the spot he kissed. To Neville, what happened next seemed to happen in slow motion. Elspeth placed both hands on his round face, leaned in, and placed her lips on his.

Neville's heart raced as he clenched his eyes shut. This was his first kiss, and he was receiving it from the girl he loved. He wasn't used events turning out in his favor, and he had to admit that this was the best thing to happen to him since he met Elspeth. Her lips were soft and warm, and very sincere, and he found himself disappointed when she pulled away.

"You… you meant that, right?" he asked quietly. "All of that? The lecture? The… the kiss?" Elspeth smiled, biting her lip.

"Of course," she said, kissing his forehead. "Now let's go back to that dinner." She grabbed Neville's hand and they both stood up, galloping down the stairs hand in hand back into the dining room, where Augusta stood at the sink, clearing her empty plate with a wave of her wand.

"Ah, there you two are," she said, looking over at them. "Now what was that all about?"

Neville and Elspeth smiled at each other. "It's a long story," Elspeth said with a grin.

"Yeah," Neville agreed, "and frankly, this one is long enough as it is."

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